In March 1998, France had just voted in regional elections. Friday March 20, four right-wing regional presidents were elected thanks to votes from the National Front (FN). Charles Millon (Rhône-Alpes), Jean-Pierre Soisson (Burgundy), Charles Baur (Picardie) and Jacques Blanc (Languedoc-Roussillon) received support from the extreme right and caused a national political crisis. While controversy was growing over the possibility of a hidden agreement, a coup took place in Franche-Comté where the FN did the same in favor of the UDF candidate, Jean-François Humbert. The latter, who had committed to rejecting the slightest collusion with Jean-Marie Le Pen’s party, did his word and resigned. Holy “republican hero” by some of the press at the time, Jean-François Humbert died on 20 November in Issoudun (Indre), at the age of 73.
In 1998, a single round of proportional voting, in Franche-Comté, put the left and right on equal footing, twenty-four people each were elected, and allowed the FN’s nine council members to act as arbiters. On the right, several vice-presidential candidates disagreed with Jean-François Humbert’s position and the debate heated up. On the left, where the presidency if won would go to the Citizens’ Movement (MDC), Jean-Pierre Chevènement’s friends were furious but for another reason: the leader of the Socialist Party in the regional council, Pierre Moscovici, who was allied with the Communist Party and the Green Party, was holding discussions with right-wing groups.
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